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Post by Unswamping on Mar 9, 2015 21:45:19 GMT -5
i think it really depends on a few things. how much stuff you have. having alot of stuff makes it much harder ti clean in some ways. say, having alot of things on the counter means everything has to get moved before the counter can get wiped. then everything has to be put back. mutliply that by all the crowded surfaces and it will take a very long time to clean as opposed to a more minimialust house. if youre a hoarder, like me, then there are areas that just cant be cleaned. my kitchen is in good shape and takes very little time to clean. my dining room on the other hand is impossible to clean at all. right now it is packed with boxes and totes and stuff. i cant even see the window in there. so no cleaning gets done. when i do finally clean it, it will take a long time because it hasnt been cleaned in so long.
how many people live in the house and how much do they contribute to the mess and to cleaning. two messy people can require more cleaning time than a family of four neatniks. babies in diapers add alot to cleaning time. older children and husbands should be picking up after themselves, but the reality is alot of them dont and can add significant work.
are there pets in the house and are they housebroken/littered trained etc? pets can make their own messes. if they are having accidents, that will add cleaning time. poorly trained animals that spill over trash cans and destroy things will add cleaning time. even the best behaved pets can spill food, water, litter. pets obviously are not going to help clean.
what are your personal cleanliness standards? everyone is different. some people clean their blinds every day, i never cleaned mine in my old house (4 years). my kitchen counter through gets wiped multiple times a day, thats just me. there are peopke who believe you should wash your kitchen floor every day and others who think once a week is too often. how long has it been since things were cleaned? for those of us recovering from squalor, things may not have been cleaned for years. so the first few cleanings will take a very long time.
so i think this is a difficult question to answer. i know that i dont want to spend all day cleaning. according to that book, i should spend 3 hours a day cleaning. my cats are my kids, should i add a 1/2 hr for each? i have five which would be another 2 1/2 hrs. 5 1/2 hrs a day cleaning? maybe right niw as i am struggling to dehoard and clean up, but long-term? no way do i want to spend that much time cleaning. im cleaning up my house house so i can have a life. i want to live in a clean house.
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Post by def6 on Mar 9, 2015 23:00:15 GMT -5
Hello Oust, I'm working on a new plan for myself: To work the least amount of time and keep up "good enough" standards…. And by any means necessary. By hook or by crook. Try it Oust! Work a little and then go play a little. Do what you want to do….I always think to myself: I'm getting this done quickly... then I'm gonna be gone. I even try to beat my best time on folding and putting away laundry or putting away dishes. Same thing in reverse, clean as you go , pick up after yourself and you will not have to clean a mess because you won't have a mess. I wash dishes as I am cooking and warm sudsy water is waiting to dunk dishes in as soon as we are finished with our plate. Not fair to stand in the kitchen an hour after dinner to clean everything up. No, never again. I can't afford a maid …so therefore , I've opted for a house that doesn't get dirty. I clean "already clean" toilets so they can be cleaned in 2 minutes. I wipe surfaces once a day quickly so that I don't have to work a week solid to get to them. Houses with too many items in them generally don't stay clean…they get jumbled, difficult to organize…taxing. I hope this helps
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Post by angela on Mar 9, 2015 23:34:05 GMT -5
On another note, how much time would you be WILLING to spend on your home each day for it to be clean and uncluttered? How much time do you spend on meaningless leisure activities--things that you get very little out of, but that pass the time (as opposed to meaningful leisure activities that give you deep satisfaction). How much time per day do you waste because your home is cluttered (for example, looking for lost items, making a special trip somewhere because you put something off, making a special trip somewhere because you didn't organize your time to do things efficiently, rewashing laundry not put away right away, picking up stuff that slides off of a huge stack every time you pass by). I'm just beginning to realize that some of my meaningless activities can be sacrificed without reducing the quality of my life, while some time spent in cleaning/decluttering saves time in the long run, reduces my stress, and makes me feel good about my living space. I'm finding that there's a compromise between hours and hours of cleaning a day, and how much I did before, which was none. Diane Yes, I agree with the essence of this, for sure. It is just a fact, a clean and orderly home will not create itself. I was thinking too recently, as I posted on imamess's blog, sometimes you just have to get down and dirty and scrub and wipe and all the rest. I have been trying to implement some of this sort of cleaning with "Pick An Ick" done while my bath is running. I'm at maybe 40% success but even with only that small bit, there is less just plain grunge around now. When it comes to the basic maintenance tasks of life, dishes, laundry, PEEPing, meal prep, shopping, cleaning to varying degrees, self care and hygiene, paperwork, child and pet care, vehicle care; the quantity of time spent is probably more dependent on a person's energy and vigor. I classify deep cleaning and decluttering as projects, and the amount of time spent of those can vary widely according to cleaning standards, size of mess, size of space, etc. And size of hoard and willingness to make decisions quickly or slowly. In my life, on those days when I have no obstacles or appointments and my energy is good, I can go all the way through my dailies in about 3 hours. That is everybody fed, watered, and the most rudimentary daily tasks. If I'm dragging or there is some other urgency (as today when I spent most of the day in the barn monitoring lambs) well, the dishes didn't get done until 4 in the afternoon.
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Post by hollyhock on Mar 10, 2015 11:13:52 GMT -5
I probably spend the least time now on cleaning. I have purged, downsized and moved - although I still have a 2 bedroom apt. It is just me, and I have no pets. I figure I can do my dailies in 20-30 minutes a day - but may take longer on dishes, since I no longer have a dishwasher. I try to do them twice a day. Then whether I clean a room a day or do a chore a day - for a weekly task, that is probably another 20-30 minutes - so 1 hour total for at home cleaning. Add to that things that I call extra, like groceries, errands, bill-paying - and for me laundry since now I need to plan it and go to a laundry room rather than just run down to my basement and toss in a load whenever I feel like it. Cooking adds more time. Baby care, pet care, picking up after other family members would all add more time. And then of course doing deeper cleaning or decluttering involves additional time and I do that as I can. When I was purging and packing to move etc - I would probably spend 1-3 hours a day on it. Now I just hope to do 1 extra thing a day - on some days - that may take another 30 minutes. So being in maintenance takes a lot less time, even if I am cleaning things that don't look dirty!
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Post by reb on Mar 10, 2015 11:27:40 GMT -5
UnswampingNo, I wouldn't add the cats in [mebbe a few minutes to scoop litter and mebbe brushing] because kids are far higher maintenance than pets.
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Post by Unswamping on Mar 10, 2015 12:29:48 GMT -5
reb maybe not your cat. my kitties are squalorous. ok theyre not as high maintenance as little kids, especially toddlers, but they also never grow up. although maybe my new habits are rubbing off. crazykitty has started to wash her toys in her water bowl.
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Post by reb on Mar 10, 2015 12:42:43 GMT -5
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Post by dtesposito on Mar 10, 2015 13:06:29 GMT -5
You definitely have to count time for my cats. 2 litter pans, with litter that gets thrown out each time they use them, scooping, changing and washing the pans, hair that sheds all over and sticks to upholstered things even though I comb them. Things they knock down off of surfaces that have to be picked back up. And, with my old sickly cat, I feed them 5 times a day, which makes a lot of dishes to wash, and constant sweeping because each time they eat, bits of wet food are flung in a circle around the dishes. Diane
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Post by reb on Mar 10, 2015 14:37:51 GMT -5
You definitely have to count time for my cats. 2 litter pans, with litter that gets thrown out each time they use them, scooping, changing and washing the pans, hair that sheds all over and sticks to upholstered things even though I comb them. Things they knock down off of surfaces that have to be picked back up. And, with my old sickly cat, I feed them 5 times a day, which makes a lot of dishes to wash, and constant sweeping because each time they eat, bits of wet food are flung in a circle around the dishes. Diane I'd be feeding them on paper plates in that case...
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Post by dayeanu on Mar 10, 2015 20:30:09 GMT -5
This is very discouraging. I seriously hope this is wrong. I am not willing to clean for 3 1/2 hours a day. I would never have time to do anything else! Well now, how much of that are hubby/kids willing to take off your back so you can spend time with them? There is no hubby. DGS, an older teenager, eats, sleeps and leaves (college and studying and church and social life - there's always something). He always intends to do things; he wants to do things; he just "never has time." DD is in and out for meals but (kindly) is too busy to help, as well. Add in her dogs and birds, and sometimes her horses, that I take care of (because she doesn't) in addition to my own, and it adds up. Also, they don't understand why they have to help. After all, I have nothing to do all day.......
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Post by reb on Mar 10, 2015 21:18:01 GMT -5
Well now, how much of that are hubby/kids willing to take off your back so you can spend time with them? There is no hubby. DGS, an older teenager, eats, sleeps and leaves (college and studying and church and social life - there's always something). He always intends to do things; he wants to do things; he just "never has time." DD is in and out for meals but (kindly) is too busy to help, as well. Add in her dogs and birds, and sometimes her horses, that I take care of (because she doesn't) in addition to my own, and it adds up. Also, they don't understand why they have to help. After all, I have nothing to do all day.......Erma Bombeck who I loved said that any time someone says that to a stay-home mother she should then deliberately do absolutely nothing all day and when hubby or kids walk in and go "Good G_d, what the he11 happened in here??!!" she should answer, "Whatever it is I never do all day? Today I didn't do it."
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Post by 7sweetbabiesgranny on Mar 11, 2015 9:53:06 GMT -5
Ha!! Love it
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Post by Di on Mar 11, 2015 11:47:38 GMT -5
I am erratic. I pretty much keep the house in maintenance, but I have no set schedule. I do tidy the downstairs daily (this includes doing dishes) but other than about 30 minutes daily on that, I just putter. Some days (rarely) I will spend 3-4 hours on the house. Other days I am a slug. My room is a mess but I don't care enough to fix it. The bed is made and the floors are clear.
I think that the secret is learning to SEE clutter. When you notice it you are naturally inclined to deal with it so that it becomes a non issue. I put away the clothes I fold instead of leaving them on the table. When the dog brings in red clay, I now see it and mop it. I unload the dishwasher without thinking about it.
When you just DO without focusing on what you are doing, the time spent on it becomes insignificant.
Habits are our best friends.
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ichabod
New Member
Joined: April 2009
Posts: 48
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Post by ichabod on Mar 11, 2015 12:43:14 GMT -5
I have a 3 bedroom, 3 bathroom house. Excluding cooking, I spend about 30-45 minutes a day on wiping down things, taking care of the cats and their boxes,and very basic upkeep. On the weekends, I probably spend 2 full hours cleaning and then multiple hours doing laundry. Once you get to a maintenance phase, as long as you pick up after yourself as you go, nothing gets that messy.
If I skip a weekend, it gets bad fast.
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Post by Di on Mar 11, 2015 13:06:31 GMT -5
I just emptied the dishwasher. Another "habit" that I hadn't even noticed, kicked in. I was putting away the glasses and noticed that 2 wine glasses, 3 kid cups, and 2 water glasses are missing. I wasn't counting what was there but I was noticing what wasn't. When kiddo gets home from school, I will send her on a "dishes run ". It's easy to keep up when everything matches and is allocated X amount of space in the cupboard. I also keep up with the everyday china and when 2-3 items get broken, I order replacements. Today I noticed that 2 plates have chips on the edges. At the end of the month, I will replace them if I can afford to. It may have to wait till next month because I have several family birthdays this month.
I don't think I ever realized that I "take inventory" but it's a habit that really does keep clutter contained. I don't know how many pieces of stainless I have but I have a general idea of what the drawer "should" look like. If a divider starts looking low, I mention it and whoever is hoarding in their room will return stuff to the kitchen.
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